Tag Archives: english bulletin

English bulletin June 1, 2017

A TREATY TO BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS

You probably won’t read about it in the commercial mass media, but a very important event is taking place at the United Nations this month. From June 17 –July 7, a conference of the UN General Assembly is scheduled to negotiate a treaty to ban nuclear weapons!

The draft treaty was released on May 22 by Costa Rica’s ambassador to the UN, Elayne Whyte Gómez in her capacity as chair of the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination. The new draft treaty is based on the proposals put forth in the negotiations of the Conference in March. It would require the states to “never under any circumstances … develop, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess, or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices … use nuclear weapons … carry out any nuclear weapon test”. States would also be required to destroy any nuclear weapons they possess and be prohibited from transferring nuclear weapons to any other recipient.

The negotiating conference was established after a series of meetings in Norway, Mexico, and Austria with governments and civil society to examine the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear war. The meetings were inspired by the leadership and urging of the International Red Cross to look at the horror of nuclear weapons, not just through the frame of strategy and “deterrence”, but to grasp and examine the disastrous humanitarian consequences that would occur in a nuclear war.

The first session of the ban treaty negotiations took place on Feb 16, 2017, considered procedural matters such as the election of officers, agenda for the negotiations, rules of procedure and participation of NGOs. More substantive negotiations on the proposed ban treaty took place March 27-31.

According to an analysis of votes of the UN Member States, a majority are in favor of the treaty, including the countries of Latin America, Africa, and most of the Arab States and the smaller states of Asia-Pacific.

However, there is still a long road to putting the treaty into practice. All of the nuclear powers (United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Pakistan, India and North Korea) are opposed to the treaty, along with their allies, includiing most European countries.

The longer we wait to abolish nuclear weapons, the harder it becomes. As WILFP (the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) has testified to the UN conference: “All of the nuclear-armed states . . . are investing in the expansion, development, or so-called modernisation of their nuclear arsenals. These programmes are not just about “increasing the safety and security” of nuclear weapon systems, which is what the nuclear-armed states claim. The “upgrades” in many cases provide new capabilities to the weapon systems. They also extend the lives of these weapon systems beyond the middle of this century, ensuring that the arms race will continue indefinitely.”

In addition to WILPF, many other civil society organizations are pushing the UN Member States to adopt the treaty. A forum this month in Brooklyn will include speakers from a number of organizations including Peace Action, MoveOn and the American Friends Service Committee. And on June 17, there will be a Women’s March to Ban the Bomb to the United Nations in New York, a women-led initiative building on the momentum of movements at the forefront of the resistance, including the Women’s March on Washington.

The annual meeting of Abolition 2000, an international organization dedicated to nuclear disarmament, gave support to the Women’s March, and heard reports from their projects, working groups and affiliated campaigns, including De-alerting and nuclear risk reduction, Don’t Bank on the Bomb, Economic Dimensions of Nuclearism, ICAN, Interfaith action, International law and nuclear weapons, Mayors for Peace, Missile control, Nuclear Weapon Free Zones, Nukes Out of Europe, Parliamentary Outreach, Peace and Planet, UNFOLD ZERO and Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. They established a new working group to build support from civil society and governments for the United Nations High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, which will take place in 2018.

As Alice Slater concludes in her article, Time to Ban the Bomb, “We need to get as many countries to the UN as possible this June, and pressure our parliaments and capitals to vote to join the treaty to ban the bomb. And we need to talk it up and let people know that something great is happening now! ”

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY Countries for and against the UN resolution to launch negotiations for a treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons	TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY Mexico: Colima will host the Meeting of Youth Peace Leaders	DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Latest News from International Cities of Peace	SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Swiss vote in in favor of gradual nuclear phaseout
WOMEN’S EQUALITY Kenya’s pastoralists look beyond patriarchy to property rights for women	HUMAN RIGHTS The Palestinian Hunger Strike: “Our chains will be broken before we are..”	FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION Argentina: Meeting with Nobel Peace Laureates	EDUCATION FOR PEACE Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report 10 (Apr 2017)

June 1, 2017d-disarmamentenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin May 1, 2017

. MARCHING TO SAVE OUR PLANET .

Two major mobiliztions to preserve the planet took place this month in the United States and Canada. Close to a million people turned out across the United States and Canada for the March for Science on April 22. A week later, at least a quarter of a million turned out for the Peoples Climate March.

At the main March for Science in Washington, D.C., the American scientist Bill Nye, an honorary co-chair of the event, delivered a speech to a crowd of tens of thousands in pouring rain. ‘Show the world that science is for all. Our lawmakers must know and accept that science serves every one of us,’ Nye said before shouting out, ‘Save the world!’

For the Peoples Climate March a week later, over 200,000 people took part in the Washington, D.C. march and another 50,000 or so in 370 sister marches across the country. According to its national coordinator, ““This march grew out of the relationship building among some of the country’s most important progressive organizations and movements. . . . to pressure global leaders to act on climate change. There was a simple demand – act . . . act on climate while creating family-sustaining jobs, investing in frontline and indigenous communities and protecting workers who will be impacted by the transition to a new clean and renewable energy economy.””

If one were to map the largest turnouts, it would look almost the same as the map we published back in January for the women’s marches against the inauguration of President Trump, which, in turn was almost the same as the map for the election results.

The marches for science were appropriately set for April 22, which is recognized by the United Nations as Mother Earth Day.

The UN initiative came from Latin America, and, indeed, it was celebrated this year in most Latin American countries, including statements from the Presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela that linked it to the culture of peace and to socialism. In addition to Bolivia and Venezuela, we gave some details from celebrations in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Argentina.

For example, in Honduras, public and private environmental organizations planted thousands of trees in urban and rural areas to raise awareness of the importance of caring for the planet, while in Argentina there were workshops, ecological activities and even the country’s first “bio festival” of music, held in the city of Rosario.

In addition to the science marches, there were many other celebrations of Earth Day across the United States and Canada. These included Earthday fairs with educational activities, tree planting and community environmental cleanups. Especially unique and appropriate was the earthday event in North Dakota, where the horseback riders of the Dakota Exile Healing Ride celebrated the “Sweet Corn Treaty” that occurred in 1870 with the Chippewa and Sioux tribes. They called for “sharing our homelands and responsibilities to the lands, and water as well as respect for each other’s cultures and traditions by sharing once again as Dakota did”.

One would have hoped that Earth Day would be celebrated around the world and would indicate a growing consciousness for the culture of peace, given that sustainable development is one of its eight program areas. Indeed, some claim that these celebrations involved “a billion people.” in “195 countries.” Unfortunately, our survey of Earth Day activities around the world failed to confirm any large participation outside of North and South America.

Certainly, there is a growing consciousness around the world that we must act to save our planet, a consciousness that complements the anti-war consciousness that we have seen on the UN International Day of Peace. Although the consciousness is worldwide, perhaps it is appropriate that the largest mobilizations at this time are taking place in the United States, since it is the American empire that poses the greatest threat to the environment.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION Earth Day around the World – 2017	TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY Beirut Declaration enhances role of religions in promoting human rights	DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Paraná, Brazil: Draft Law for Culture of Peace as public policy	SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT USA: Peoples Climate March a Huge Success: Final Count: 200,000+ March in D.C. for Climate, Jobs and Justice
WOMEN’S EQUALITY Togo: Women’s groups in the Plateaux region sensitized on social cohesion and the culture of peace in Atakpamé	HUMAN RIGHTS Sanctuary city leaders vow to remain firm, despite threats from U.S. attorney general	DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY The Inside Story on Our UN Report Calling Israel an Apartheid State	EDUCATION FOR PEACE Mexico, Los Cabos, Baja California Sur: Theater show celebrated on Theater Day

May 1, 2017d-sustainableenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin April 1, 2017

WOMEN ARE ON THE MOVE .

Since women’s equality is an essential part of the culture of peace, we must appreciate the great mobilization around Women’s Day, March 8, and the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

On International Women’s Day, women around the world celebrated by marching in more than 50 countries. The photo essay republished by CPNN includes images from Ukraine, Bangladesh, Australia, Nigeria, Georgia, Palestine, Spain and USA. Especially impressive was the mobilization in the United States where millions of women took part in a “Day without a woman.” It was organized by means of social media in the same way as the women’s demonstrations January 21 in which over 2 million protested the policies of the newly inaugurated President Trump. We have not found any way to measure how many women participated by staying away from work or to what extent their refusal to shop led to decreased sales on March 8, but we provide links to many descriptions of the day in the mass media.

Women activists were featured by various international NGOs in March. The Coalition for the International Criminal Court presented women leading the fight for global justice from Colombia, Mexico, Philippines, Lebanon, Ukraine and Mali. Amnesty International celebrated the US mobilization of “Day without a woman” by publishing “eight women who are battling on the frontline to claim their rights, refusing to wait in the face of injustice.” They came from South Africa, Canada, El Salvador, China, Afghanistan, Norway, Saudi Arabia and Iran. And Nonviolent Peaceforce presented a tribute to Joan Bernstein: “Joan was the heart and soul of the U.S. and Canadian chapters of NP for many years. She helped organize the founding conference for NP, and later the annual conference of North American chapters. She provided us with vision, inspiration, resources, skills — and the endless belief that we could rise to any challenge.”

Women activists from around the world gathered at the United Nations for this year’s meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The meetings featured :

– The priority theme: Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work
– Review theme: Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls (agreed conclusions of the fifty-eighth session)
– Emerging issue/Focus area:The empowerment of indigenous women

They received a report from the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel (HLP) on Women’s Economic Empowerment which identified seven main drivers of transformation:

1) tackling adverse norms and promoting positive role models;
2) ensuring legal protections and reforming discriminatory laws and regulations;
3) recognizing, reducing and redistributing unpaid work and care;
4) building digital, financial and property assets;
5) changing corporate culture and practice,
6) improving public sector practices in employment and procurement; and
7) strengthening visibility, collective voice and representation.

Many of these points were addressed in the opening statement of the CSW by the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

In one of the many side events of the CSW, the International Institute on Peace Education and the Pasos Peace Museum urged women to use important existing UN resolutions as tools for achieving equality:

– UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security
– the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
– the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Several speakers and reports pointed to Iceland as an example of a country where women’s equality is being achieved. To mark International Women’s Day, the government of Iceland announced that they will become the first country in the world to require companies to prove they pay all employees the same, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality and nationality.

We conclude with the words of Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, in her speech to the CSW: “The much-needed positive developments are not happening fast enough. . . . let us agree to constructive impatience.”

WOMEN’S EQUALITY

Opening statement by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women for the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY

Burkina Faso: Dialogue of religions and cultures: prospects for the Ouagadougou symposium

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

USA: Video about the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

France: The farmers who bought an old Lidl supermarket

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Colombia: Santos Welcomes Approval of Special Jurisdiction for Peace

HUMAN RIGHTS

Amnesty: 8 women show us why International Women’s Day is the day to declare: We won’t wait for our rights!

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY

UN commences nuclear abolition negotiations

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Peru: Art in the streets to promote the culture of peace

April 1, 2017Uncategorizedenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin March 1, 2017

MASS MOBILIZATIONS FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

It is evident that national elections are not sufficient to guarantee democracy. As we have seen many times over the past year, the people have had to take to the streets in order to resist government corruption and/or oppressive measures.

Most recently, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona to demand that the Spanish government accept more refugees. The demonstration was supported by the new progressive mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau.

And in the Philippines capital of Manila, at least 10,000 people joined the “Walk for Life” march on February 18, to protest against President Duterte’s brutal crackdown against drug dealers and users. It marked the largest show of opposition from the Roman Catholic Church against the brutality of the government’s anti-drugs campaign, which has seen more than 7,600 mostly poor people killed in the past seven months without any judicial procedure.

In the major cities of Romania last month hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets against a decree that would have decriminalised abuses of public office. The demonstrations forced the government to withdraw the controversial law, but the protests are continuing with the demand that the government resign.

Following the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January, millions of people joined in the Women’s Marches in the major cities of the United States, to fight for a new era of civil rights. As CPNN has documented, this is part of the ample evidence that the post-election fightback to defend peace and human rights is underway.

Over 40,000 people participated in October in human chains throughout Honduras, including in the capital, Tegucigalpa and about 300 other cities, protesting against violence and homicide rates. High-ranking politicians and business tycoons have been implicated in a wave of violence against environmental activists, with at least 123 land and environmental activists murdered since a military coup d’état forced out the populist president Manuel Zelaya.

An estimated 20,000 women and men marched in Jerusalem for the final rally of the Women Wage Peace “March of Hope” in October. The March of Hope culminated in a historic rally outside the Prime Minister’s Residence, demanding a political solution to the conflict. Unfortunately, at this point, the conflict seems to be getting worse rather than better.

Tens of thousands of people marched on October 5 in at least 16 cities in Colombia demanding the government and the opposition to reach a peace agreement with the FARC, after the rejection of the agreement with the guerrillas in a plebiscite. In November the Congress of Colombia approved the agreement, but congressional opponents of the deal had walked out of the chamber in protest before the vote took place.

Also in October, massive mobilizations by women in Poland forced the government to reject a proposed amendment that would have added more restrictions to their already restrictive abortion laws.

Other massive mobilizations against government corruption took place last year in South Korea, Brazil and Malaysia. In South Korea, the President was ultimately impeached, although observers consider that the problem of government corruption persists. In Brazil, the problems continue with less than 15% of Brazilians approving the present government. And in Malaysia, despite the accusations of corruption, prime minister, Najib Razak remains “untouchable.”

So far some government changes can be seen in Romania, Poland and South Korea and the Colombian peace accord was officially endorsed, while time will tell if public pressure can lead to changes in the other situations described above.

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY Barcelona demonstration calls for the reception of refugees	WOMEN’S EQUALITY UN Commission on the Status of Women – 2017	DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Live long and protest: the power of mass action is alive in Romania	SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Latin America and the Caribbean could be first developing region to eradicate hunger
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION 16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates	HUMAN RIGHTS Philippine Catholics march against Duterte’s deadly war on drugs	DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY Increase in arms transfers driven by demand in the Middle East and Asia, says SIPRI	EDUCATION FOR PEACE Africa: The Festival of Amani strengthens our ability to live together

March 1, 2017Uncategorizedenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin February 1, 2017

THE UN WORKING FOR PEACE .

In recent years the United States, Europe and their allies have increasingly addressed world problems without involving the UN, for example in the 2008 financial crisis, and their 2012 meeting in Washington against nuclear proliferation. In the past few days, the new US President has prepared an executive order that would radically reduce American funding of the U.N. And last month the lack of support was clearly evident in the negative votes of these countires concerning the resolutions for the human right to peace, the annual resolution for the culture of peace and the decision to hold a high level meeting on nuclear disarmament.

The resolution on the human right to peace was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 19 by 131 in favour, 34 against, with 19 abstentions. Among the negative votes were Australia, Canada, United States, Israel, South Korea, United Kingdom, and members of the European Union including France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Spain, and many Eastern European countries. Similarly on December 23, the General Assembly adopted by consensus its annual resolution on the culture of peace that was presented by 102 sponsoring countries. None of the above countries were among the sponsors, except for Belgium, Netherlands and South Korea.

The resolution on nuclear disarmament was supported by 140 countries, but once again,among the 30 countries voting against were Australia, Canada, United States, Israel, South Korea, United Kingdom and members of the European Union including France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Spain and many Eastern European countries. While China voted for the resolution, Russia voted against.

When the culture of peace was initiated by UNESCO, it was not supported by all of the socialist countries, but that has evolved in recent years. This year the culture of peace resolution was sponsored by, among others, China, Cuba, Georgia, Russian Federation, Viet Nam and the former Soviet countries of Central Asia. In addition, the Cuban ambassador to the UN introduced the resolution for the right to peace, and the Chinese ambassador to the UN recently stated that “The United Nations should advocate a culture of peace.”

Meanwhile, despite opposition, UN continues to work for peace.

One of the first actions of the newly elected UN Secretary-General António Guterres was to chair a dialogue between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot leaders aimed at reunifying the island that has been split in two since 1983.

The peace accords in Colombia, perhaps the most important peace agreement last year, was greatly aided by the United Nations, and the UN continues be active in its maintenance.

Tourism can make a major contribution to the culture of peace as we have shown in a previous CPNN bulletin on Peace through Tourism. Hence it is important that the United Nations has designated this year, 2017, as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

Another major contribution to culture of peace is the free flow of information. Here, too the UN is active. Alfred de Zayas, the UN Independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order recently welcomed the amnesty to American whistleblower Chelsea Manning He went on to call for amnesty to other whistleblowers like Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, the Luxleakers Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet [See CPNN article] and the Israeli tax corruption whistleblower Rafi Rotem.

There are some initiatives that the United States, Europe and their allies continue to support at United Nations where they need support of all countries; for example, they voted for the recent Security Council resolution to guard against the risk that non-State actors may acquire or use nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

The UN continues to show it is our best hope for peace. We showed it’s potential to promote peace during the years of the tenure of Director-General Mayor at UNESCO in the last decade of the 20th Century. Imagine what the UN could do for peace in the future if it were being run by the people, by the cities of the world, for example!

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

‘Cyprus can be symbol of hope’ the world badly needs, says UN chief Guterres as conference opens

WOMEN’S EQUALITY

Dutch to set up global abortion support fund to counter Trump’s cuts

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

Madrid: World Forum Against Violence and for Peace Education

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY

From the “jungle” to the theater, refugees replay their exile to Europe

HUMAN RIGHTS

Canada: teachers are victorious as bargaining rights acknowledged by Supreme Court

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY

UN Security Council underlines need to halt proliferation of weapons of mass destruction

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Benin to introduce education for culture of peace

February 1, 2017Uncategorizedenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin January 1, 2017

. . . REVIEWING 2016 . . .

Despite the deterioration of national politics as we leave the year 2016, we continue to see progress towards a culture of peace in the areas we have featured each month in our bulletins.

The biggest news in 2016 was the peace agreement in Colombia that ended half a century of civil war. This was featured in our JULY BULLETIN. Last month we featured words from the lecture by Colombian President Santos on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize: “With this agreement, we can say that the American continent – from Alaska to Patagonia – is a land in peace. And we can now ask the bold question: if war can come to an end in one hemisphere, why not one day in both hemispheres? Perhaps more than ever before, we can now dare to imagine a world without war. . . . We must replace the culture of violence with a culture of peace and coexistence; we must change the culture of exclusion into a culture of inclusion and tolerance.”

Of course, the development of a culture of peace requires much more than the end of the civil war. What is required in Colombia is “territorial peace” such as that beginning in the Colombian departments of Magdalena Centro, Cesar, Valle de Cauca and Antioquia, feaured in the DECEMBER BULLETIN. According to the most recent article on territorial peace in Colombia, “what is at issue is to build and / or strengthen a Social and Democratic State at all levels of national life and in all corners of the country. This requires a strong civil society, with high levels of organization and public involvement, that is to say, an active citizenship.”

Despite the fact that the countries that took part in the UN conference on the environment failed to address the continued reliance on fossil fuels, as we discussed in the JANUARY BULLETIN, there continues to be progress on other fronts. Increasingly we find that civil society institutions are divesting from the business of fossil fuel, with the last news indicating $5 trillion of divestment. In this regard, Nobel laureates and scientists have called on the Nobel Prize Foundation to set a good example by divesting from fossil fuels. And we found in the NOVEMBER BULLETIN that renewable energy is beginning to overtake fossil fuels, beginning with the generation of electricity. The most recent news in this regard indicates that 47 of the world’s poorest nations have pledged to skip fossil fuels altogether and jump straight to using 100 percent renewable energy instead.

The second international conference on the culture of peace in Africa was hosted in December by Angola. This continues the work for a culture of peace in Africa that we remarked in the BULLETIN OF MARCH, with articles from the African Union as well as Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon, Morocco, Malia, Ethiopia, Congo, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, South Africa and Chad.

Recently we reported on a meeting between representatives of the Peace Commissions of New Haven (USA) and Santos (Brazil). This continues the progress of cities towards a culture of peace that we covered in the BULLETINS of APRIL and SEPTEMBER, including news from Mayors for Peace, International Cities of Peace and a new network of Nonviolent Cities.

In the OCTOBER BULLETIN, we surveyed activities around the world for the International Day of Peace. We found 182 events in 85 countries from every region: USA/Canada, Latin America/Caribbean, Western Europe, Africa, Arab States, Russia/Ukraine, and Asia/Pacific. The largest number of events involved children, especially schoolchildren. The celebration was especially intense in some of most conflictual regions of the world, such as the Ukraine, Kashmir/India/Pakistan, and Colombia/Venezuela. And to this list we added the United States.

In the JUNE BULLETIN, we considered proposals to reform the United Nations. One of the proposals was reform of the process to choose the Secretary-General and to increase the leadership of women. Recently, the new Secretary-General, António Guterres, was elected by a process with increased transparency, and he is appointing a number of women to high posts.

Nonviolence, as considered in our MAY BULLETIN, is one of the key methods of a culture of peace. Highlights of nonviolent movements from 2016 include photos from South Korea, Brazil, Malaysia and the United States. And most recently, Pope Francis issued his annual peace message on the theme, Nonviolence: A style of politics for peace. He urges people everywhere to practice active nonviolence and notes that the “decisive and consistent practice of nonviolence has produced impressive results.”

Another key method is peace education. El Salvador is now in discussions to include culture of peace in national educational curriculum. In the AUGUST BULLETIN, we covered peace education articles reprinted by the Global Campaign for Peace Education from Myanmar, Bosnia, United Kingdom, Rwanda, Georgia, United States and the Seychelles.

Finally, we arrive at the fightback folowing the election of President Trump in the United States. The movements for sanctuary cities and sanctuary campuses were featured in the DECEMBER BULLETIN. Since then, we add the specific resolution of the city of San Francisco, as well as sanctuary churches in New York and Minnesota.

La lucha continua! The fight continues!

HUMAN RIGHTS San Francisco’s Official Response to the Election of Trump	WOMEN’S EQUALITY UN Women: 16 days of activism against gender violence	DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Colombia: The Challenge of Territorial Peace	SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT REPORT: Fossil Fuel Divestment Doubles in Size as Institutions Representing $5 Trillion Commit to Divest
TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY Morocco: Madagh hosts eleventh World Meeting of Sufism	FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION Nobel Lecture by Juan Manuel Santos:”Peace in Colombia: From the Impossible to the Possible”	DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY Building on gender promise, Guterres names three women to top UN posts	EDUCATION FOR PEACE El Salvador: Discussions to include culture of peace in national educational curriculum

January 1, 2017Uncategorizedenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin December 1, 2016

ELECTIONS – WHAT COMES NEXT ?

We’ve seen two shocking election results recently: the defeat of the referendum for the peace accords in Colombia, and the election of Donald Trump in the USA based on a racist and xenophobic campaign. What does it mean?

It means that voters in the two countries are alienated from their governments – quite simply, they do not trust the government. And they are angry.

So what comes next? Do we slide back into war or into fascism? Or do we return to the people, listen to their fears and anger, and organize them in the sense that Martin Luther King told us?: “The supreme task is to organize and unite people so that their anger becomes a transforming force.”

CPNN, this month, finds ample evidence that the fightback to defend peace and human rights is underway in both countries. It begins at the local level, as it must be if it is to be sustainable. And it is being led by young people, as it must be if it is to have the energy to succeed.

Already, there are plans for a massive march of women to take place in Washington on the day after the inauguration. We “will send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.”

Thousands of students have staged walk-outs on college campuses across the United States, signalling their commitment to maintain “sanctuary campuses” to protect immigrant students. At the same time, the mayors of the largest American cities have pledged to maintain their policy of refusing to work with federal deportations These include Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Not to mention entire states that are part of the sanctuary movement, including California and New York.

If you are out on the street talking to people, there is a new sense of urgency and commitment to get involved. “We’ve got a lot more work to do, now that Trump has been elected . . . more than ever, we need to work together for peace.”

People, especially youth, are training in methods of nonviolence, realizing that they will be put to the test in the coming times. For example, in Tucson, Arizona, students are taking the Kingian Nonviolence training program, which aims to “institutionalize and internationalize nonviolence.”

In Colombia, young people are training “to build capacities and to form ‘ Leaders animators’ in the territory who can then promote a political culture of pardon and reconciliation.” Also, there is the development of Municipal Peace Councils, the Municipal Councils of Transitional Justice . . . to form the network of peacebuilding strategy at the municipal level.” This month, CPNN articles about these initiatives come from the Colombian departments of Magdalena Centro, Cesar, Valle de Cauca and Antioquia, some of the most populous of Colombia’s 32 deparments.

Traditional peace and justice organizations, such as Search for Common Ground, Pace e Bene, Nonviolent Peaceforce and American Civil Liberties Union are deeply involved. But the energy is coming from young people to an extent that we have not seen since the revoluionary 60’s. It is they who will determine the direction and the power of the movement.

HUMAN RIGHTS USA: ‘Sanctuary campus’ protests demand universities protect immigrants	WOMEN’S EQUALITY Enough is enough: Oxfam seeks to end violence against women and girls once and for all	DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Tabling for peace in the USA: A new sense of urgency	SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 47 of the world’s poorest countries are aiming to hit 100% renewable energy
TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY Niger: Niamey opens a forum on the culture of peace through religious dialogue in the subregion	FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION Antioquia, Colombia: Young people united by a Territorial Peace!	DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY The International Society Culture of Peace: Solidarity concerts in Athens and Mytilini / Lesbos	EDUCATION FOR PEACE Mexico: Sixteenth National Congress of Mediation inaugurated in Tlalnepantla

December 1, 2016d-democraticenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin November 1, 2016

RENEWABLE ENERGY IS ON THE MOVE!

Renewable sources of electricity overtook coal last year to become the largest source of installed capacity in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.

A recent graph is spectacular showing how the cost of solar energy has come down while the volume deployed has gone up. In 1975 a silicon solar energy module cost over $50 per watt, while now it is less than $1 per watt. The milliwatts installed have risen from 1 to 115,000! Since 2000 the deployment of solar has doubled seven times.

And the trend promises to continue. Dubai recently received a bid for solar installations that would produce electricity at 3 cents per kilowatt hour, four times less than the average price paid for residential electricity in the United States. And the Middle East is not alone. Projects with similar low rates are reported from Mexico and China.

Last year, for the first time, global investment in renewable energy surpassed investment in fossil fuels. This year’s graph shows $286 billion dollar investment in renewable energy (mostly solar panels and wind mills) compared to $130 billion for fossil fuels. Developing as well as developed countries are involved, including China (over $100 billion), India (over $10 billion), South Africa, Mexico, Chile, Morocco, Turkey and Uruguay (all over $1 billion).

To some extent the change is simply driven by the profit motive of investors. Presumably that is the case for the great investment by China. The Chinese are not only making the largest investment in the world (by far!) but they are advancing renewable energy in other regions besides their own, for example, in Latin America.

At the same time, sometimes the investment comes from small startup companies such as the Spanish Renewable Energy Cooperative
Also the change is due to political decisions of investors. For example, Roman Catholic institutions around the world have recently decided to divest from fossil fuel extraction, joining a large list of religious institutions that have made the same decision.

In some cases, the political decision is national. Switzerland has just adopted a new law which phases out nuclear power and puts the emphasis on cutting energy consumption and increasing the production of renewable energy. The generation of non-hydro renewable power is to grow from 1.7 TWh last year to 11.4 TWh by 2035 (nearly tenfold).

Cities are also involved. This is especially important since, according to the International Renewable Energy Association, cities accounting for 65 per cent of global energy use and 70 per cent of man-made carbon emissions. In the United States, Boulder, Colorado, announced that the community will move to 100% renewable electricity by 2030, while Utah’s Park City has committed to to the same target by 2032. Meanwhile, Los Angeles’ City Council has directed its staff to develop a plan for 100% renewable energy.

There are some surprising technical advances involved in the shift to renewable energy. For example, the government of France has decided to invest in 1000 kilometers of autoroutes composed of solar panels!

Despite the fact that the climate accord negotiated by the Member States of the UN in Paris does not promise to solve the problem of global warming, the growing progress in renewable energy may ultimately solve much of the problem.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Urban leadership in the US for renewable energy	WOMEN’S EQUALITY India: Buddhist nuns bike Himalayas to oppose human trafficking	DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION El Salvador: March rejects ongoing violence and calls for a culture of peace	HUMAN RIGHTS 40,000 Create Human Chains to Protest Violence in Honduras
TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY Greece: Union pushes for access to education for all refugee children	FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo: The commemoration of the International Day of Peace	DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY March of Hope gathers 20,000 in historic Jerusalem rally	EDUCATION FOR PEACE From pacifism to nonviolence in Berlin

November 1, 2016d-sustainableenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin October 1, 2016

. . . PEACE DAY 2016 . . .

There are indications that millions of people took part in this year’s International Day of Peace. For example, in the United States, Campaign Nonviolence mobilized more than 600 actions in all 50 states. Last year, according to Peace One Day “an estimated 1.5 billion people were exposed to Peace Day messages through activities ranging from dances to media campaigns.”

These mobilizations carry on an important tradition. At the beginning of this century, UNESCO and the United Nations mobilized 75 million people to sign the “Manifesto 2000” as part of the International Year for the Culture of Peace with the greatest number of signatures in India, Brazil, Colombia and South Korea. In 2005 and again in 2010, there was a mobilization for the UN International Decade for a Culture of Peace and we published reports from a thousand civil society organizations around the globe.

In recent years, the most universal mobilization for peace has been carried out at the local and national level for the International Day of Peace, September 21. During the International Peace Decade, detailed reports were gathered and published by the NGO Pathways to Peace. Their annual report in 2009 described 700+ events. However, in recent years, we have complained that there has not been an adequate survey of its global scope. of Peace Day events.

Therefore, this year CPNN has undertaken such a survey, using the International Day of Peace as the key word for a search in Google News during the week before and after 21 September, and by searching in a wide range of languages, including English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Italian, and German. We have come up with 182 events in 85 countries.

Looking at the maps generated by this survey, we may remark the following:

1) The celebration is universal. The maps are filled from every region: USA/Canada, Latin America/Caribbean, Western Europe, Africa, Arab States, Russia/Ukraine, and Asia/Pacific. Gaps, such as Scandinavia and Eastern Europe can be explained by our failure to enlarge the search to include all of the national languages in these regions, not to mention the many national languages in Asia.

2) The celebration is especially intense in some of most conflictual regions of the world, such as the Ukraine, Kashmir/India/Pakistan, and Colombia/Venezuela. To this list we may add the United States.

Looking at the events listed from the Ukraine, one is struck by the fact that there is a more or less equal number of celebrations reported in the national language (from the western part of the country) and in Russian (from the eastern part of the country). Many of the articles describe a longing for the shared peace that they had in the past and have lost following the installation of a right-wing government in recent years. For example, from the Lutsk gymnasium №4z in the West Ukraine: “Previously, the streets of our country were peaceful, but the events today in the east of our country are effecting everyone, including students and teachers.” From Kovelchany “Now the concept of peace is more than ever important for our country.” And from Dnipropetrovsk in the East Ukraine: “Every day we help peaceful people affected by the war – displaced and wounded. This is the reality of peace and unity in our country today”

Looking at the events listed for Peace Day from India and Pakistan concerning Kashmir, we find references to recent bloodshed. From Mirpur, Pakistan : “The participants strongly condemned the increased human rights abuses by the Indian occupational forces in occupied Jammu & Kashmir.” And from Doraha, India “The volunteers condemned the attack on Indian soldiers at Uri Brigade Headquarters.”

The news is good from Colombia. . So it is not surprising that there are many positive celebrations of the Day of Peace associated in this country that is emerging from a half century of civil war. For example, in Tunja, Boyaca, Colombia : “To commemorate the international day of peace, the biggest event took place in San Pablo de Borbur where at least 300 young leaders from 14 to 28 years old met to share experiences during the First Meeting of Youth for Peace of Western Boyaca. They are young leaders from the municipalities of Chiquinquirá, Buenavista, Coper, La Victoria, San Miguel de Sema, Pauna, Quípama, Muzo, Briceño, Caldas, Maripí, Otanche, Tununguá, San Pablo de Borbur y Saboya.”

On the other hand, the articles from their neighbor, Venezuela, are divided along the conflict lines. Here is another country which, like the Ukraine, has suffered from America/European support to overthrow a left-wing government. For example, from Maiquetia, Vargas, Venezuela : “The people of Vargas . . . marked the beginning of activities of the International Week of Peace, in response to the guidelines of the President of the Republic, Nicolas Maduro, to reject the intentions of those who, from the right, want to promote the culture of violence to destabilize the country.”

The most extensive mobilization we could find was in the United States. The remarkable mobilization of Campaign Nonviolence is possible because of a growing awareness in that country of what they call an “epidemic of violence ” Participants in one of the day’s events protest the “ongoing US wars, proxy wars and military occupations, armed drones, US war crimes, and the increasing Pentagon budget,”

3) The largest number of events involve children, especially schoolchildren, in every part of the globe. A particularly moving example comes from Colombia where adults will soon vote in a referendum to ratify the peace accords. The rector of one of the schools sponsoring a mobilization of school children for Peace Day in Cartegana explained that ““Adults talk of ‘Yes or No’ because they are the ones who can vote in the plebiscite, but the children were not asked about this although it is they who will inherit a country at war or at peace.” She added that “what we say on this day is that children can also decide about peace.”

In the year 2000, 40% of the population of Colombia signed the Manifesto 2000, promising to promote a culture of peace in their daily lives. Now the people of Colombia are voting to ratify the peace accords and mobilizing their children to decide for peace. May they serve as our example in the gathering struggle to replace the culture of war by a culture of peace.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION Celebration of the International Day of Peace around the world	WOMEN’S EQUALITY Africa: CEDEAO: Women are called on to establish a durable peace	DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Mexico: Mancera opens the International Forum of ‘Mayors for Peace’	HUMAN RIGHTS The Elders welcome Myanmar peace conference
TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY United Nations: Inauguration of the Parliamentary Multi Track Initiative Council for the SDG’s and the Culture of Peace	SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT USA: Standoff at Standing Rock: Even Attack Dogs Can’t Stop the Native American Resistance	DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY 600+ Campaign Nonviolence Events Across USA Next Week!	EDUCATION FOR PEACE Snowden: Best Film of the Year

October 1, 2016d-informationenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin September 1, 2016

. . . CITIES ONCE AGAIN . . .

Once again this month, we find cities in the lead for the various componens of a culture of peace, including sustainable development, tolerance and solidarity, democratic participation, peace activism and disarmament.

Before going into detail, we should celebrate the formal signing of the peace accord for Colombia, which has been under negotiation for several years and which has been followed, step-by-step, by CPNN, as well as the progress towards a peace accord to end 47 years of war between the government of the Philippines and the communist movement National Democratic Front.

The city council of Rennes, France, has voted unanimously to endorse a project working towards food sovereignty. This is the second city of France to take such an approach, the first having been the city of Albi. The project involves a partnership with the NGO “Incredible Edibles.” In presenting the project, Councilman Theurier stated, “The approach of Incredible Edible can offer spaces to garden for residents, can strengthen social ties, and promote the greening of the city. It offers free food and promotes the development of urban agriculture and therefore food autonomy of cities. Above all, it can educate for the protection of the environment and recreate the link between people in city and those in food production areas. As the urban population continues to grow, issues related to agriculture – including the preservation of the land – are less tangibly perceived by many of our fellow citizens. Recreating this link is a necessity for the future.”

The Mayor of Madrid, Spain, argues that cities can overcome the formal frameworks that keep nation states from resolving key issues. Madrid, for example, has negotiated its own accord with the United Nations to welcome refugees. It has instituted participatory budgeting which can help to end democratic apathy. And as we have noted earlier, Madrid’s response to terrorism is to promote a pro-peace education. As the mayor says, “It starts at school. We want children to learn the value of dialogue and mediation, and for them to learn to solve their own problems among themselves.”

The Culture of Peace Commission of Ashland, Oregon (USA) continues to show the way for promoting peace at the level of the city. It has established a ” Community Peacebuilders Network” which lists “all of those local groups and individuals, from all sectors of our community, that have already decided to join us.” The Commision plans to hold periodic conferences “encouraging collaborative solutions as we work toward our goal of creating an interconnected web of peace, justice, sustainability and inclusion in our local area.”

The newest city peace commission is that of Santos, Brazil. The commission supports the Mayors for Peace Network, as well as activities of civil society, such as the “Paz na ponta do Giz” project of ABrasOFFA that promotes the concepts of peace within schools. A key role of the commission is to make the subject of PEACE a priority on the agendas of all leaders of the city (whether formal, such as the mayor and city representatives, or informal such as leaders that influence citizens’ decisions).

Finally, the UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) have announced the five finalists for the City Peace Prize which will be awarded during their annual conference to be held in Bogota, Colombia in October. Appropriately (given the signing of the peace accords), two of the cities are in Colombia: Palmira and Cali. Palmira uses a music competition to promote peace, while Cali is training community peace workers. The other cities are Canoas, Brazil, which has established “peace territories,”, Shabunda, DRC Congo, which has created “Permanent Peace Committees”, and Kauwagan, Philippines, for their programme “From Arms to Farms” for the demobilization of former rebel soldiers.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Iranian Women Won More than a Medal at the Olympics	WOMEN’S EQUALITY Peru: #NiUnaMenos: 50,000 protest violence against women in Lima	FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION Historic Peace Accord for Colombia Is Signed in Havana	HUMAN RIGHTS UN: National Human Rights Institutions will play a more strategic role in education
TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY Global Youth Rising 2016 – Reflections	SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Rennes, France: 210 000 inhabitants move towards food self-sufficiency!	DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY Breakthrough in Philippine peace process	EDUCATION FOR PEACE Three Decades of Peace Education in the Philippines

September 1, 2016d-democraticenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator